How to Use:

This program requires Java to run. If you do not have Java installed, please visit the Java website to obtain it: http://www.java.com

To run, simply double-click on SMS Backup Reader. If it opens as a folder and shows you multiple files inside, then either you do not have Java installed, or you need to go back, right-click on SMS Backup Reader, and open it with Java.

Enter your country code. The default is 1 for the U.S. For example, the U.K. is 44.

There is an option to change the timezone hours offset for the received messages. ONLY use this if you have previously encountered issues when loading messages!

Once it is open, choose the file you want to load by clicking the appropriate button.

Next, click Load!.

To see different conversations, click on the contacts on the left side. The numbers are the PHONE NUMBERS of the contacts. If there are no names showing, it is because you did not backup the names using SMS Backup & Restore. SMS Backup Reader does not know the names unless they are in the file.

To export a specific conversation, click on that contact, and click the Export button.

To export all conversations, click on the Export All button.

Close the program when you are finished.

Similar instructions are available in English, Spanish, Hindi, and Dutch inside of the program.

Current Features:

Country code selection. You may have a contact stored one way, but when the SMS comes in, it may have the full international prefix and country code, even if it is from that same country you are in. Entering the country code of your number helps solve some of this problem.

Separate message threads for each contact.

"Sent" and "Received" and date/time information for each message.

Export all conversations as a single text file divided by contact (easy archiving for later reading/printing).

International support (UTF-8)

Known Issues:

Issue reading some backup files. Probably due to certain cases of formatting (Such as an email address instead of a number)

Poorly formatted XML files will cause the program to do nothing when you click load (for example, if "&#0" is in the XML file). This is a null character and shouldn't be there. Working on a way to ignore it